Doommongers forecast that various interest groups from Irish producers to suppliers to smaller grocers are heading into very choppy waters. One of the most vocal campaigners against the order has, of course, been RGData, which is officially the voice of the "independent" grocers but also encompasses the powerful voice of Musgrave. Enterprise minister Micheal Martin was having none of their old guff last year.

Some leading industry figures are also exercised. Maurice Pratt (left), C&C chief executive, recently came out of the traps at a conference to slam the Competition Amendment Bill. He is not in favour of propping up sectors and businesses that are not competitive, he said. But he likened the new legislation to a "bucket without a hole", and criticised the government for what he said was failure to address important issues such as predatory pricing and the country's high cost base.

It is probably pointless to start queuing outside supermarkets for cutprice goodies this week. The effects of the changes wreaked are likely to be longer-term and considerably subtler.

Only time will tell whether the whole kerfuffle has just, as supermarket interests want us to believe, been little more than an over-emotional episode.